


Test-tube Gods

by COBALT (nacaratskies)



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Birdflash if you squint - Freeform, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Dimension Travel, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Heterosexual Life Partners, I tried to stick to canon but gUYS ITS HARD, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Let Dick Say Fuck, Not Really Character Death, Pseudoscience, Reunited and It Feels So Good, The Speedforce - Freeform, Time Travel, Two Shot, Wally West is Alive, i tried not to make them swear but it's hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-28 11:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15706098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nacaratskies/pseuds/COBALT
Summary: "It's a portal," she says. "I can feel him… Wally. Dick, he's here. I can feel him. He's here, just… in another direction…" She turns around, frowning in confusion, reaches up and then drops her hand. "He's… beyond. I don't know how to describe it.""I do." Dick allows himself a smile and a breath of relief at what he knew to be true. "See, my theory is that Wally is stuck somewhere.""Where?"Dick grins even wider. "Another dimension."(or: Dick knows he has to make things right, bring Wally back, and maaaybe figure out the entire universe while he's at it.)





	1. Engineered Olympus

**Author's Note:**

> Uhh this is 90% bs and my pseudoscience is terrible, please go ahead and watch this fall apart if you think about it for more than 3 seconds. Also i tried to stick to canon but guys please, I can't afford all these tie-in comics and games lay off me. Just enjoy some science and these two nerds being hetero life partners ok

Wally fades away among sparks of lightning, and for just a moment, Dick's mind burns everything about this into his memory. Just like when he learned of Jason's fate – the smell of gasoline and electricity, the blistering combination of heat and cold, the voltage prickling the air, the people around him and the sun reflecting off the ice. He sees it all. He knows it all, knows he'll always remember it.

Wally fades from everywhere and nowhere at once, and in one last painful wrench of reality, it's over, he's gone. Barry is yelling. Artemis is crying. Bart is shivering.

Dick closes his eyes, guilt slamming into him and sweeping him up in a heavy wave. God, it _hurts_. He lets it wash through him and keeps his face steady, just as Batman taught him to do.

* * *

  


Long before any of this began, Mami told him, _Dick, when you hurt somebody, you gotta either make it right or be truly sorry before you can ask forgiveness._

_Yes, Mami._

He's lived by those rules his whole life, and he's not about to break them now.

* * *

  


Tim has begun to… hover.

It's a strange word to apply to Tim, but it's accurate.

Dick isn't stupid. He knows his eyes have dulled, like they did when Jason died, only Tim wasn't around to see that. They won't get brighter again, he knows that. Tim is killing himself worrying, though, and Dick wishes he could find the motivation to do something about it.

Bruce does not talk to him. They haven't really talked, not sincerely, not since The Fight. The one that sent him off to Superman, the one that ultimately made him Nightwing. Well, they sort of have. But it wasn't enough.

Oh, God, and Wally. _Wallywallywally_. He just wants to hear his voice again. He tries not to think about it. No emotions. Act like Batman taught him.

( _He's gonegonegone_ –)

 _(It's not true it's not true it's not true it's not true_ –)

He's not going to delude himself. But there's something that rubs him the wrong way...

 _This is really not healthy_ , he tells himself, _you should talk to Black Canary. It's perfectly normal to feel like it's impossible to move on if your best friend dies in front of you. She's right over there. Go talk to her. Ask her for help._

Dick leaves as quietly as he can. Dinah doesn't even turn around.

* * *

  


After a few days, he gets his shit together and looks up string theory.

He already knows string theory. Obviously. But he needs a refresher, because a while back, Barry had talked about a force. A speed force. And he'd previously talked about vibrating to another dimension. And...

Membranes. Vibrating to the one-dimensional quantum strings they're tied to, vibrating in three dimensions among a larger fourth-dimensional membrane (a.k.a. brane) aligned along the edge of five dimensions and so on. The Speedforce, three steps sideways from reality. That would make sense. They've all got to be connected, somehow, and if Dick can figure it out...

(He's still gone and it's just a hunch but–)

He goes to Jay Garrick, and when he doesn't know, he goes to Bart and they conjecture together. Turns out, Bart knows a lot.

* * *

  


If Wally's disappearance was due to speed, dimensional energy, and lightning casting off his anchor to this reality, he could be inside the Speedforce. Could be. _It's happened before_ , Dick whines at himself, knowing full well how pathetic he sounds. _It's not impossible…_

So the first question is, if Wally is theoretically in the Speedforce, would he be omnipresent or linear in time? And if he's linear, is he aligned to Dick's dimensional membrane? Or to some distant, convoluted timeline? If so, how to go about calculating alternative timeline crossing events to reach his spacetime location?

Turns out, Dick doesn't have to find out. Wally was pulled from the world, but not from his body, so he must– he would be linear since only a pure consciousness could meld with the Force completely. Whether he'd be conscious or unconscious is irrelevant.

Hm.

* * *

  


Bruce is starting to get worried.

It's been – what, four months now? He's preoccupied, always in the library, checking out books. Recently, he's started writing down his theories in a small leather notebook, as well as notes for Wally when he misses him too badly. Bruce _knows_ that he's preoccupied, but he doesn't know _why_ , and he, too, begins to hover, albeit from a distance.

Alfred knows. Dick told him, and swore him to secrecy.

_I'll never tell a soul._

_You're the best, Alfred._

* * *

  


Three dimensions in this world, four if you count time. That's the Speedforce. It delineates time. Right. And it exists everywhere. Right. So either it's a universal constant, like gravity– which doesn't work because it doesn't make any sense for someone to get stuck inside of gravity– or there's something else to it that allows it to be everywhere. Like another dimension.

The science that lets string theory work requires nine spatial dimensions to exist, so that's reasonable.

So then, where is the Speed Force? Is it infinite? How many planes does it have? This part would take more than just conjecture, so Dick grabs Bart, swears him to secrecy, and waits until Batman is out. He gets Bart to run in circles, analyses the yellow lightning he produces.

Wally produced blue, though. Bart tells him there's a colour hierarchy. Blue is closer to the Speedforce.

_Can you make blue lightning?_

_Yeah, but if I go much faster, I'd also be in danger of fading out._

_Gotcha._

Hm. So the Speedforce absorbs a speedster who runs too fast, too.

New theory: the Speedforce has a grip on speedsters. That grip is inferior to their grip on this three-dimensional reality, where they were born. If they use too much Speedforce, their grip on this reality becomes weaker compared to the Speedforce's grip on them. And if they're untethered from this reality, such as by dimensional energy and lightning, then the Speedforce will snap backwards and yank them into it like an elastic.

If it's true, it only confirms what Dick already knew. But where is the Speedforce, then? What is it made of, dark energy perhaps? Would dark energy kill someone? And then... what about the lightning?

He analyzes the yellow stuff that comes off Bart. Bruce has done this before, but it wasn't top priority, so he didn't bother going further.

After three minutes, no pattern found. Bart stops for a snack and eats all the sandwiches Dick thought to bring for him. They start again, and, after a moment of thought, Dick adds a fourth spatial dimension to account for in the calculations.

Nothing. Still no pattern.

But string theory needs nine dimensions at least.

Nine spatial dimensions accounted for finally produces results, thanks to the advanced Batcave computer. The lightning is all diverging from... something. Something massive, positioned off the ninth dimension, invisible but accessible.

It takes a while, but he analyses Bart's connection to the laws of physics on a hunch. His relationships to the laws are... off. Because he's being pulled in a different direction. Towards the source of his lightning, a massive nine-dimensional bulk made of something that's not entirely matter. Towards the Speedforce.

_Fuck yeah._

* * *

  


Dick analyses the footage and interviews everyone who was there and will still talk to him. He steals a jet and flies there with some of Bruce's equipment, sets up a small array and analyses the ambient environment.

As expected, when he runs the ambient electrical data through the Batcave accounting for nine dimensions, he finds a vortex, of a sort. A tear. The electricity swirls to a point, then in dead centre, there's none. Like it's being pulled away towards something.

He brings Bart up with him and despite his protests ( _it's cold, this isn't healthy, it's nothing, you're deluding yourself_ –) when he gets there and stands in the dead air of the epicentre, he shivers violently despite his coat. _Yeah, the Speedforce is definitely connected here. I think you're onto something, dude._

Dick frowns.

He brings in M'gann, who gets a lot more cooperative once she's read his mind. She closes her eyes, strands of hair drifting upwards in the current.

 _It's a portal_ , she says. _I can feel him… Wally. Dick, he's here. I can feel him. He's here, just… in another direction…_ She turns around, frowning in confusion, reaches up and then drops her hand. _He's… beyond. I don't know how to describe it._

 _I do_. Dick allows himself a smile and a breath of relief at what he knew to be true. _See, my theory is that Wally is stuck somewhere._

_Where?_

Dick grins even wider. _Another dimension._

* * *

  


With a few exceptions, the team avoids him. Especially Artemis. She hasn't spoken to him since the incident, but Dick's head is full of calculations and he can't bring himself to care. Bart, knowing now what he's trying to do, manages to convince Jaime that he's in the right. Jaime, M'gann, and Bart collectively convince a few others – Conner, Babs, and weirdly enough, La'gann.

They come to him and try to help him, to get him to start feeling normal again. It won't work. Dick is on a roll, disappearing into the Batcave with Bart and M'gann every time Bruce is gone and chatting playfully as they unlock things they already sort of knew to be true without being consciously aware of it.

Bruce talks to him, eventually, once it becomes clear he's not going to initiate anything.

_You're going to hurt yourself on patrol, you're getting reckless._

_Since when do you care when I hurt myself?_

_Tim is worried sick about you. Says you disappear when I'm gone._

Normally Dick would pour his heart out or try to fix things. Not now. He doesn't have the time to spare. _Yeah. Don't worry about it._

_Dick, please. Just talk to me._

The fucking nerve. _If you wanted to talk to me, you should have done it sooner. People change. I've changed. I don't have to tell you jack shit!_ Maybe he's more angry at Wally, or at Artemis, or at himself. But he tries not to think too hard about Wally, since he'll have plenty of time to do that if he saves him.

He leaves. Bart asks him what's wrong. _Nothing_ , he says. _I just did something I've been meaning to do for a while. It's not a big deal._

* * *

  


Things feel like they're ramping up somehow.

Dick asks everyone who would know – the Green Lanterns, the Flash, Superman, the Martian Manhunter – and he learns that there are fifty-two worlds. Fifty-one not counting this one. And then, according to Barry, the Speedforce Wall. To break it? Gotta go fast. Sort of like the sound barrier. Or the Time Barrier, though it seems more plausible that an easier way to travel in time would be via the Speedforce since it's the embodiment of time and all that. Then a bunch of multiverses that be really does not want to visit by accident – Apokalips, New Genesis – then the mysterious Monitors. And then... the Source Wall. And that's it.

The Speedforce is omnipresent in time, so Wally would be frozen and hadn't moved. Probably playing fast and loose with consciousness, too, and Dick's not sure if that's a good thing.

Dick is aiming at the Speedforce wall's location on the ninth dimension, located at the three-dimensional coordinates where Wally disappeared. Right.

(Technically he'd be on the ninth dimension and _inside of_ the tenth dimension, the tenth dimension in this scenario being time and the Speedforce essentially being the embodiment of time itself flowing and existing in one large, paradoxical mass. Which is decidedly weird. Would time even pass in the Speedforce since you would be inside of it? He files the thought away for later.)

And how to get from three to nine dimensions? How do you switch to another brane? You vibrate, of course.

Science tells him that theoretically if he could find a brane that existed in nine dimensions (actually since branes are layered on top of each other in order of dimensions he would just have to ascend to the ninth brane which is already there so it wouldn't need to be _found_ , maybe _located_ would be a better word), he could vibrate to it and move to Wally's location from there. That's three parts to the machine: locating the brane, locating Wally, and transporting him there.

(It's at this point that the coolness of all of this hits him. _Oh my God, Wally's gonna love this when he gets back. The mysteries of the Speedforce unlocked! We'll tell it to him as a welcome-back present!_ )

(Then it hits him that he now is certain Wally is coming back, and he's not sure how he feels about that.)

His first thought is that to figure out coordinates in nine dimensions, he'd need a nine-dimensional machine, which is impossible. But Clark told him that it's all vibrations. He couldn't use the frequencies from the pole, those would be addled by the portal there. So he takes the finest instrument Bruce has – the quantum microscope – and gets Bart to vibrate as fast as he can without dimension-hopping to see if he can see the vibrations.

Yes, he can, if he translates the vibration from the atoms' motion.

So with considerable effort, he takes the machine up to the Watchtower and makes sure there's no one there, accounts for all machines and other vibrations, and senses the universe's sound.

Clark was right. The sound of the universe, it's like a symphony.

And there are vibrations unaccounted for.

Dick accounts for nine dimensions in his calculations and again, the frequencies align themselves with the Speedforce. He saves the frequencies and the Speedforce's coordinates. Behind him, Bart yells out. _Yes! So crash, dude!_

Dick grins as well. _Found you._

* * *

  


Bruce is now quantifiably concerned. Dick knows he hasn't gone on patrol for a while, is thinner and looks haunted, always making calculations in his head. And Bruce and Tim both hover, now, Tim especially, glancing anxiously over at him when he doesn't eat anything. He doesn't think he's said a word to either of them in a few weeks. Whatever. He'll make up for lost time after he gets Wally back.

* * *

  


He builds the machine with the help of M'gann. Her telekinesis is as precise as thought itself. They construct it flawlessly.

It's handheld, medium-sized, and has a compartment in it that Barry invented to store Speedforce (which is really, really cool). The premise? It'll send a message to the exoskeleton of the device, which is currently being worn by Dick. It will vibrate the right way to take Dick there, then take both of them back when the second switch is flicked. Ironically, they won't need to worry about the massive gravity of the Speedforce, because they could use its own power to warp reality so gravity wouldn't apply, drifting past it. Wally will sync frequencies with the device, so he doesn't need a suit. Hopefully.

That's all.

It's an unspoken rule that Dick will be the one to go in and get Wally. They don't tell Barry, or Bruce, or Clark, or anyone. It seems like a bad idea at the time.

The day approaches fast. Dick finds the coordinates that he'll be leaving from. It has officially been one year since Wally left, and on the year-and-one-month anniversary, Dick is scheduled to retrieve Wally.

There are many risks. Gravity, for one. Black holes, getting lost, the shift to nine dimensions killing Dick and/or driving him batshit insane (ha ha), non-Euclidian geometry messing up their calculations, getting trapped in the Speedforce, rogue speedsters, accidentally travelling to Hell or New Genesis or wherever, eldritch gods living between the cracks in the universe and the like, not to mention Mr. Mxyzptlk. Most terrifying of all in Dick's opinion is that the Speedforce might be made out of dark matter, which would put him in deep, deep trouble.

Just in case, he resolves to say goodbye. He's a coward, though, so he writes it down – Dear Tim, Dear Alfred, Dear Bruce – he writes the letter for Wally in his notebook about the Speedforce – and shoves the papers at M'gann. "Just in case," he says, and she understands.

* * *

  


On the spot where Wally disappeared, they set up a semipermanent shelter. Dick moves into position, M'gann sets up mental contact. He grabs onto the machine and turns the switch.

The machine fires up slowly, beginning to vibrate first at a normal pace, then so hard it hurts, then back to harmless, only this time it's because Dick is also vibrating.

Bart watches him solemnly, M'gann too.

He closes his eyes and abruptly feels... funny.

 _Stay calm, Dick,_ M'gann says in his head. _Remember to breathe._

He opens his eyes and starts to say something to Bart, but before he can, he sees their shocked faces and everything splinters, the four dimensions splitting and he can see the inside of his friends and he's _screaming_ , and _oh dear god biology doesn't work like that what the hell_ –

And then he's in the Speedforce.

Lightning strikes in ten directions. Behind him, reality opens rips in the force and tries to pull him out to no avail. Dick looks down at his hands.

They're still his hands, but just... more. Multiplied. Dick cubed.

Oh god. Ten dimensions.

_Ohgodohgodohgod. I can't do this._

_M'gann?_ He searches for her presence but finds almost nothing. _M'gann, please answer me. I need you to translate what my eyes are seeing in ten dimensions to three before my head explodes. M'gann, I'm going to throw up, please hurry, please make it stop M'gann please there are too many directions–_

Lightning strikes him with a jolt and he jumps, electrified, heart racing, remembering to breathe. In… out. Is there even air here? The… whatever he's breathing is thin, but he's managed worse. The pounding in his head lessens and a sense of safety, of some sort of sentience leaving him with a gentle touch, fades slowly.

He breathes easy, opens his eyes and suddenly the difficulty is gone. Oh, he can see it so clearly now. How was it that he couldn't picture a fourth dimension before? He can count all ten now. They're so obvious. He's still Dick, but in the same way that a cube is still a square. There's just more dimensions to the same idea.

It's so... beautiful...

He feels his entire body relaxing, but the last shreds of mental contact dissipate a few moments later and remind Dick what he came to do.

Wally is up ahead. Dick's heart leaps at the sight of him, surrounded by swirling light and lightning bolts and God, he understands why you'd never want to leave, so beautiful– he drifts towards Wally in reverence, the lightning snapping against the tips of his fingers. He reaches him, travelling along the sixth dimension, and touches his shoulder. Wally turns around and his eyes light up, but in delight or in horror, Dick doesn't know.

"Dick?"

His heart aches when he hears Wally's voice. It's like an elastic band was stretched over his heart for the last year and is now snapping back, and it hurts, God, does it hurt, but the tension is gone. He laughs almost hysterically and reaches for Wally, who grips him tightly.

"Oh my god, Dick– you can't be here, it's impossible!"

"I came back," says Dick into Wally's chest, and he's so much more beautiful in nine dimensions, "I- I came back to bring you home–" He clutches the device in his hands tighter.

"Why? How did you know, why is it _you_? How did you even get here?!"

"Because the team misses you, and I'm sorry and I couldn't let you _die_ ," says Dick, because it's _obvious_ , and holds up the machine so Wally can see it. "Grab this, we don't have much time and we can talk later, you need to vibrate along to it–"

Wally grabs onto the second handle, Dick flips the switch. The vibrations start. He pulls Wally up against him and admires the lightning striking around them with a small, overwhelmed smile, knowing he'll never be back here, never see ten dimensions again as they begin to vibrate as well.

The Speedforce disappears.

* * *

  


Wally hits the floor hard, takes a moment to orient himself and draws a bit on the Speedforce to correct his shocked brain. He shakes his head, and everything sort of makes sense. He's back where he disappeared, only there's a small shelter built around him.

Dick tumbles to the floor beside him, immediately getting up and stumbling, trying to adjust to forces that don't exist. He drags himself to the corner and retches for a couple seconds, then leans up against the wall, throws up, stumbles back and passes out.

Wally takes a few deep breaths, bleary as if he's just come out of a dream, and gets up, wobbling. The shelter is empty except for Dick, a first aid kit, and a radio. He goes for the radio first, tuning it to the usual JLA frequency.

"Is…" He clears his throat and starts again stronger, limbs trembling. "Is anyone there?"

Crackling static, then a voice, too distorted to recognize properly. "…this? Repeat, who is this? Over."

"This is Wally," says Wally. "I'm back. Nightwing's here too. Uh, over."

A pause, then a loud crash from the other end. "Holy shit! Alright, we'll be at the base ASAP. I'm cancelling all missions. Over and out." The radio crackles into silence.

Wally finally lets himself collapse to the ground, panting, and bursts out in relieved laughter. Soon, he promises himself, he'll talk to everyone and be happy and angry and apologetic and exhausted. Soon he'll see everyone again. Very soon. But for now, he'll just…

…shut his eyes for a second…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is quantifiably even a word? How long will my pseudoscience hold up? Why is my formatting so bad? Will I ever get a sense of dignity and characterization? Who knows. Stay tuned cause there are two chapters to this. It ain't over yet kids


	2. Synthetic Ichor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I wouldn't have woken you up if it wasn't urgent. Take the phone, Baywatch."  
> "No being sexy this early in the morning," Wally whines, but he fumbles for the phone anyways. "You're unfair. Who is it?"  
> "Robin."  
> "Hello, this is Wally." Artemis' answer catches up to him a second later. "I mean–"  
> "Dick's dead," Tim says on the other end.  
> Wally abruptly feels like he's been doused in icy water. "Wh– what?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you hate posting on AO3 because of the confusing format clap your hands! *clap clap* If you don't know how to properly characterize your background characters (most notably the Flash and Tim Drake) clap your hands! *clap clap* If you're not sure about 90 percent of your dialogue and this chapter's less well-edited than the last, if you feel like you need to specify that this is pseudoscience so that nobody will go after you about its accuracy clap your hands. *clap clap*

The small-gathering-turned-pseudo-party continues even without Wally. His family more or less backed off after about half an hour of hugging and crying and insisting he sleep at their house for a while. Barry didn't exactly cry, but his hugs were the tightest, as if Wally was about to slip away again and he had to keep him there. He did, certainly, get choked up, and Wally felt uncomfortably like a teenager again as he shifted in the embrace. Artemis stayed by his side the whole time, looking at Wally as if she'd just been tossed a billion dollars.

As for Young Justice, not all of them were there – several people didn't know Wally that well or just couldn't come. Still, he ended up with Gar cuddling him as a kitten, M'gann managing to be simultaneously smothering and absently worried for Dick, Kaldur shaking his hand awkwardly until Wally pulled him into a hug, and Conner nearly choking him back to death with yet another unintentional strangle-hug.

Dick wasn't there, Tim explained a little awkwardly – he hadn't woken up yet, he was under monitoring in the Batcave, and the damage wasn't too bad so don't worry.

To be honest, Wally hadn't been worried until he'd said that.

He told Tim to tell Dick when he wakes up that they need to talk, that he's sorry for what he said and they should just take a day and figure things out. He also told him to take care of himself. The poor guy seemed almost neurotic with the stress of his brother disappearing, reappearing, and now going essentially comatose.

Slowly, the party had waned in size until it was a handful of family and close friends chatting and occasionally crying and/or hugging Wally. And that's when he had apologized and slipped away, exhausted and still weak, Artemis by his side and half-supporting him, and collapsed on the bed. He was asleep instantly.

* * *

 

"Wally, phone's for you."

"Wuh?" Wally says, very articulate, blearily trying to sort out the blankets. "What time is it?"

"Like, eight." Artemis sounds apologetic.

Wally groans and stuffs his head under the pillow.

"I wouldn't have woken you up if it wasn't urgent. Take the phone, Baywatch."

"No being sexy this early in the morning," Wally whines, but he fumbles for the phone anyways. "You're unfair. Who is it?"

"Robin."

"Hello, this is Wally." Artemis' answer catches up to him a second later. "I mean–"

"Dick's dead," Tim says on the other end.

Wally abruptly feels like he's been doused in icy water. "Wh– what?"

* * *

 

Wally gets dispensation to look at the body just in case, but yep, that's definitely him. Definitely dead. No Speedforce, no magic, no scientific solutions. Gone.

Wally hears Tim talking about that too, yelling at Batman.

_I know you're thinking it._

_It's a complicated decision, Robin. I–_

_What is_ wrong _with you?! We're not using a Lazarus Pit, especially not if it means we owe a favour to_ Talia al Ghul _! She's using you, playing with your grief!_

Wally sits and thinks, unable to tear his eyes away from Dick's pale, unmoving face. _God, this is so messed up_.

* * *

 

The funeral is set on a lovely, warm day, and Wally sits there itching in his suit as the preacher goes on. And on. And on. And almost the whole Justice League in their civilian personas just sits there gravely, but he can't sit still.

Finally, he finishes, and people start throwing handfuls of dirt on the grave. Wally flinches at the sound. Bruce and Tim just look dead inside.

Bart comes up to him, glancing up and then down at the grave, bouncing his foot so fast it vibrates from the nervous energy. _Sorry, Wally._ I- I _did help him, but I don't regret it. I got you back._

 _I regret it,_ Wally says bitterly.

 _Face it, man, this whole situation is_ mode _, but you couldn't have helped._

_I should have._

_But you couldn't._

Wally shakes his head and turns away before he can say, _Maybe I can._

* * *

 

Dear _Wally,_  
_If you're reading this, I succeeded and died. It's okay. I knew what might happen when I went in, and I know you'd do the same for me. I know, I know, I'm being cheesy. What can I say? It's in my nature._  
_Normally I'd put all the stuff I want to say to you in here, but I'm just going to tell you to refer to that leather notebook. Ask M'gann, she knows where it is._  
_Love you._  
_Dick_

Wally clutches the letter in both hands, staring down at the carefully handwritten words, hearing them bounce and echo in his head.

_I know you'd do the same for me. I know you'd do the same for me. I know you'd do the same for me._

_So why am I not?_ Wally wonders.

He looks around at the walls of his room and thinks of Robin, wiping his tearstained mask dry as he tries to avoid looking at Dick's body, thinks of Batman, grave and silent, just staring with dead eyes at Dick's face.

Something brittle inside him snaps.

He picks up the leather notebook M'gann gave him, picks up a cheap notepad he used to use for grocery lists, picks up a ballpoint pen, and flips to another page. RESURRECTION?, he writes in block letters, then sits there and stares at the words for a solid minute, almost shocked at his own audacity.

Then he starts to write.

* * *

 

Bart _, can I talk to you for a sec?_

_Sure, how's it swagging?_

_Okay, first of all– please never say that again. And on a more serious note, I… I feel bad about Dick._

_Yeah, I know._ Bart nods, nonchalant. Wally is definitely more chalant right now, and Jesus _Christ_ , he misses Dick's bad wordplay.

Wally shakes his head. _I just… I was wondering…_ There's no easy way to say it _. He said in his letter that he knew he'd do the same for me, and I know that's impossible because he's dead, but I kind of want to try._

 _Are you insane?_ Bart makes a face.

_Listen– you're a time traveller, you know why I think this is reasonable._

_Yeah, but you don't have a time machine or an apocalypse to prevent!_

_He was my friend! I can't just do nothing!_ Wally's voice rises, but it sounds oddly muted in his ears.

 _He's a Bat! Theyalwayscomeback!_ Bart's voice rises and speeds up exponentially.

_Not this time, I heard Tim talking and–_

_Listenit'sdangerousevenwithatimemachine–_

_Jesus, Bart, it's like you don't even_ care _!_

That shuts him up. They stare at each other for a moment.

 _OfcourseIcare_ , Bart says, much too quickly. _Ijust-Idon'twantyoutodie_. He's vibrating slightly.

 _Okay. Okay, calm down. Slow down_ , says Wally, grabbing Bart's hand. The Speedforce's strong presence jolts him, but he relaxes and lets it flow through him, takes a breath.

 _Thanks,_ says Bart, shivering at normal speeds. _Sorry._

Wally stares at him for a minute. He's just a kid, he realizes – a kid who's terrified of the Reach, of a future where everything's in ruins, of a place where everyone he loves is dead. A kid who needs to recover, and definitely not go on insane time-travel escapades on a desperate bid to bring Wally's friend back.

 _Don't be,_ he says _. It was a crazy idea, you're right. Sorry for interrupting you._

* * *

 

He breaks into Barry's place.

Yes, he supposes, it's not exactly a _smart_ idea. But it's worth it when he finds a notebook behind a few books in the bookshelf – it's full of his notes on the Speedforce. It's nothing Dick hadn't already written down in different levels of detail for the most part, but there's one part that sticks out to him.

_I've recently become aware of a consciousness attempting to reach me telepathically while I am in the Speedforce. Will be cautious & update as new info arises._

_Update: consciousness is supposedly of a speedster that fused with the force and now exists as a nonlinear consciousness outside of time. Fusion not a safety concern for us; it was purposeful. Seems benevolent: apparently has been protecting us from dimensional insanity/hyperspeed sensory overload, is able to change thought processes in a noninvasive and nonobservant manner. Must keep this in mind when experimenting with Speedforce energy._

Aha. Wally shoves the book in his pocket and bolts, still refusing to move faster than a normal human's speed. (His strengthened connection with the Speedforce remains unused since he came home, because as much as he doesn't want to admit it, he's scared _–_ scared of being stuck there again without Dick to drag him out, scared of hero work, scared of making Dick's sacrifice in vain.) As he flees back towards his place, he comes to the inevitable conclusion, one that lines up with the connection theory that Dick came up with.

So if the Speedforce and the 3-D world are both connected to Speedsters, pulling them between them, then that consciousness should be able to help Wally with "dimensional insanity" all the time through that connection. He has only an inkling of what that actually means, but when he tries to remember Dick's retrieval of him, he fails utterly, only remembering a verbal and conceptual account and finding himself incapable of picturing it. That gives him a better idea. _He doesn't remember because he wasn't meant to._ The human brain can't comprehend new dimensions, so the consciousness made him forget. That makes sense.

But.

Dick - stupid, brave, _stubborn_ Dick - had gone in without a connection. Inside the Speedforce he was fine – the consciousness surrounded him, helping his brain acclimatize. But returning home… the shock must have killed him.

* * *

 

The security camera footage from the Batcave, courtesy of Tim via Bart, supports his theory.

Dick woke up early in the morning, paused and shifted uncomfortably for a few seconds, then his eyes snapped open and he bolted up.

There was no sound on the tapes, but Wally saw his lips move clear as day. _Wally? Wally?!_ He put a hand on his arm, patted all the way down, waved his other hand in the air in bizarre, familiar patterns. He was looking for something. Eyes wide, trembling and tense, little hiccups and shivers starting through his body, he began to babble hysterically. _Where am I– Where did it go?! Wally? Tim? M'gann! Somebody help! Where are they?! Where is it?! Tim?! Bruce?!_ The hysteria in his voice mounted exponentially, gestures getting wider and more spastic.

Tim and Bruce rushed in a moment later – too late. Dick was uncontrollable, breathing uneven, grabbing at everything for something that wasn't there. Tim tried to comfort him, gripping his shoulders as he stared wildly around the cave, but Dick was barely there anymore. Even as Bruce called someone – probably medical aid – and prepared for sedation, Dick's breathing slowed and stopped, his limbs clenching, folding down into the fetal position and finally, the shivering stopping too.

Tim began to panic after that, but Wally shuts off the tape, not interested in the aftermath, feeling sick to his stomach. It's not like he's never watched someone die before – unfortunately, it's part of the job. But he gets the unsettling impression that he just watched his best friend's mind and reason be eviscerated by some elder force, and to say it doesn't sit well is an understatement.

He shoves the chair back, shuts off the computer, and decides to take a walk instead.

* * *

 

Once Wally has calmed down enough to keep working, he cracks open his notebook, crosses out RESURRECTION, and writes TIME TRAVEL.

Then he sits there, slightly stunned, mentally reviewing everything he knows about time travel.

Well, first of all, he knows that it's possible. The Consciousness is from the future, and he's pretty damn sure Barry has time travelled before, as well as Bart, obviously. But the question is – how? He can't consult Bart or Barry, and he definitely can't consult the Consciousness. Well, whatever – if he recreated the Flash experiment when he was just a kid, he can definitely do this. Piece of cake.

* * *

 

Artemis leaves him alone out of a bizarre mixture of resentment for "dying", respect for his grief, and a sense of alienation for his rekindled affection towards Dick after their argument.

 _You know,_ Wally had thought when Artemis asked, _having someone let their mind be ripped to shreds and dedicate months of work to saving you, then coming to retrieve you and dying a terrible death because of that, simply because they'd do anything for you – I think that deserves being friends again._

But what he actually said was, _I dunno. I think I just overreacted the first time._

So Artemis leaves him alone most of the time, becoming uncomfortably distant – more than they'd been in years – but Wally keeps it up through the guilt, and they're not quite falling apart yet so they must still be doing something right. He loves her, it's not that, it's just… it's… he's not sure about anything at all anymore besides the fact that he needs to see Dick again.

* * *

 

He soon hits a roadblock in the time travel strategy as well. Which is, well, memory again, as well as his own existence.

If he comes in before Dick gets him out, he'd probably fade out of existence (unless the alternate timeline model of time travel is correct, but he's not taking that chance). But if he comes in after Dick got him out, Dick would still have those deadly memories.

But all he has to do is use electricity, Wally rationalizes. Electricity causes memory loss all the time. It wouldn't be that hard, he'd just pin him down and use the lighting from the Speedforce to shock him into forgetting. Clumsy, but doable.

* * *

 

Tim and Bruce become the most irritating because they understand. Because when Tim says "Listen, I know it's hard to lose him," he can hear the _pain_ in Tim's voice, can remember how Dick Grayson was one of those people whom nobody can help falling in love with even just a little bit. And then he tries very very hard not to think about it. And he remembers how Bruce has known Dick for longer than anyone else alive. And how horrible that must be, to lose his son like that.

And because he's a hero, whether he's in costume or not – because that's how he's wired – he aches to help them, to help everyone, to make it simple and save them and make them happy. But it's not that easy, so for now he's stuck figuring out time travel.

* * *

 

There are three time-travel methods he can think of off the top of his head – surviving the event horizon of a black hole, going fast enough, or dimensional travel. The first one is ruled out right away because honestly, no way anyone who has access to outer space is letting him anywhere hear a black hole for any reason ever, never mind help him figure out how to safely go through one. He's not even sure it's possible. The second one is impractical - he doesn't have enough room to go fast enough to break the time barrier, and besides, he'd probably launch himself into the Speedforce before he got that fast anyway.

So that leaves dimensional travel.

The basis of that theory is that he would purposefully go into the Speedforce and use it to go back in time. If, as per Dick's theory, the Speedforce is time or at least delineates it, then all he'd theoretically have to do is find a way to interface and use it to rewind himself. That seems tricky, but he thinks for a moment and then arrives on a solution – because he has a feel for the Speedforce already, the Consciousness could tell him where to go and he could just vibrate out at any moment now that he knows the vibration. Except… no, because there's a barrier between dimensions – once you're in the Speedforce, it's harder to get out. He needed Dick to break it before he could vibrate out, like breaking the surface tension of water with dish soap. 

Wait a minute, what is he thinking? Dick had already broken the surface to get him! If he was in the right time, then it would be easy to just get out!

But if he'd made a mistake and couldn't time travel properly, he would be stuck there.

It's worth it, he decides without hesitation.

* * *

 

_M'gann?_

She turns around. _Wally, what's up? You're bothered by something._

 _I'm always bothered by something,_ Wally says, a little jokingly. _M'gann doesn't seem to think it's funny._

_Okay, I… listen. I've got a thing I want to do and–_

_I'm with you,_ she says.

_What?_

_I'm sorry, I read your mind. But I'm with you. Even if it's a stupid idea, you're obviously going to kill yourself trying if nobody helps. And besides – I helped him last time, too._

_Oh._ Wally nods, not quite sure how to react.

 _Also– he didn't blame you,_ she says gently.

Wally's gaze snaps up. _What did you say?_

_I said Dick didn't blame you for your fight. He blamed himself for what happened, and he was never mad at you. I hope you know he would do anything for you. I hope you forgive him too._

_Get out of my head,_ Wally snarls.

M'gann nods _. Sorry._

* * *

 

M'gann helps him mostly in practice and prep. Bart's not helping this time, though Wally hears he was one of Dick's supporters from nearly the very start. So it's only M'gann, helping him gain weight, gain muscle, use the Speedforce again for the first time.

_Practice round one, go._

Wally shoots up from the starting position and brings the Speedforce forward to encase him from the front as he runs down the track at blistering speeds, arms pumping as fast as he can go, before screeching to a halt at the end of the track. His record as Kid Flash was thirty seconds around the track, but he thinks that this try may have taken a little less time, probably because of the stronger connection making him faster.

M'gann stares at him, wide-eyed.

 _What?_ he asks.

_Four seconds._

_Holy shit._

* * *

 

_The Consciousness shows signs of being more powerful than I previously thought. Must reconsider whether to be suspicious. Says she is female, says she is from the future, says her name is/was/will be Sela Allen, but no way to confirm without risky time travel. Claims also that she can destroy materials in the Speedforce to create energy, a reaction unheard-of before now. This could be revolutionary. Still seems benevolent. Must study more._

* * *

 

When it's time to leave, Wally steals Dick's idea and writes letters to everyone, giving them to M'gann for safekeeping. He's confident in his ability to launch himself into the Speedforce – all that's required is he's gotta go fast.

He feels like he's not ready, like there's something he's missing, but the feeling egging him on says _don't worry about it, we'll fix it later._

So he runs up to the old base that Dick used, just for consistency's sake, and stays there with M'gann stocking up on things, gaining weight, practicing his speed, and making sure he doesn't have a panic attack when he actually gets there.

The day of departure arrives too soon, but somehow not soon enough.

* * *

 

Wally finds Barry blocking his way to the entrance to the base when he gets there, frowning.

_What do you think you're doing?_

Oh, crap. _Uncle Barry, could you please move?_

_No._

_Move,_ he says, more forceful this time.

_I'm not letting you in here, Wally._

That's when his temper shatters. _Let me in already, what is wrong with you?!_

 _What is wrong with_ you _? Are you insane? Going back in there just on the off chance that maybe you could time travel and save him?_

Wally stills. _Who told you that?_

_I know you stole my notebook, and Bart told me you were looking into time travel. From there, I could track M'gann to here. I figured it out myself from there. Listen, Wally, I'm not the bad guy. You can't take this risk._

_I'm taking it. He saved me, and I'm saving him now._

_You are not. I've already sent M'gann home. J'onn is supervising her for now._

_I don't need M'gann anymore. Try and stop me._ Wally glares _. Did you know I'm faster than you now? I'm not a kid anymore. You can't keep me out._

Barry stares back _. Look, I know your plan with the electricity– that is not how humans work! You can't just shock people and expect their brains to precisely erase everything you need, and you definitely can't_ edit memories _! He's not connected to the Speedforce, he has_ no _mental barriers, you can't just shock extra dimensions out of somebody because you feel like it!_ He takes a deep breath, putting one hand over the other to stop them from shaking. _Listen, I just don't want to lose you again. Nightwing did something amazing for you, but he wouldn't have wanted this. Please, just accept his sacrifice and move on._

 _He's not connected to the Speedforce,_ Wally repeats. _Editing memories… Good idea. Thanks, Uncle Barry._

_Wally, wait!_

He ducks into the base at blistering speeds and skids into the centre of the cold spot where the ambient electricity swirls and falls into something else like a drain. He remembers how to leave. The frequency is part of him, always has been since the experiment, since he and the Speedforce were united years ago – this place is written in his blood, and he already knows how to get there. All he needs to do is vibrate.

It becomes easier the longer he does it. By three seconds in, Barry is in the room, shouting at him, but there's already lightning swirling inside the centre too intense to cross, and Wally feels the tear open a moment later and suck him through like a hole in a space station.

Lightning strikes in ten directions. Wait– ten? Dick's theory said nine, and they'd be inside the tenth… except…

Nine dimensions of space, one dimension of time, Speedforce outside of time–

The tenth dimension is time. He can literally travel across time. Obviously.

"Yes!" He laughs, elated at his discovery.

The Speedforce is exactly like he remembered it. His hand looks weird with all the added dimensions, massive compared to his flat, tiny 3-D body. He feels like a giant. There's multicoloured lightning; odd effects on sight and sound; weird, impossible geometry; the ability to picture tesseracts and other hypercubes; and the bizarre sight of…

Himself…

_What the–?_

He shakes his head and looks again. Yes, there he is! In full Kid Flash uniform, hair and limbs floating like he's weightless, it's him from a couple months ago, passed out in the Speedforce and about twenty feet away along the tenth dimension.

Wally moves towards him, almost mesmerized, circles him slowly. Is this what he looks like from the side?

He feels himself slowly being drawn to his past self, like gravity, reaches out and touches him and–

With a shriek and a clap of thunder, Wally's body explodes in pain for a moment before his eyes fly open and his suit chafes against his arms. He turns around only to see his older body disintegrating into the Speedforce.

"Holy shit!" He recoils as the last of him falls away into oblivion, grabbing at his own limbs. No doubt, he's in the other body. What the hell. "Hey, that was my favourite shirt!"

 _Do not fear, Wallace Rudolph West,_ says a consciousness – The Consciousness – in the back of his head. _You are a fool who should have planned for your past self and for all complications, as Richard John Grayson did. But you did not. It is good that I have a soft spot for you two, or you would be in trouble._

"Who–"

_You may call me Sela Allen, for that will be my name when you are dead and I am born, Wallace Rudolph West. Now, pay attention. Richard John Grayson has come to retrieve you._

He peers around for a moment, not seeing anyone, confused about what she's talking about – then he feels a touch on his shoulder. He whirls around, and there's Dick, gazing at him, illuminated by lightning, eyes shining as if Wally is the most beautiful person in the universe.

"Dick?" he stutters out, shocked, heart in his throat. He's alive, alive, alive, he's alive.

Dick lets out a guttural, manic laugh and pulls Wally into a suffocating embrace, gripping at his costume as if it's his only link to life. Wally hugs him back, tight as he can, trying to remember what he said last time. He can feel Sela in his head, prompting his words.

"Oh my god, Dick– you can't be here, it's impossible!"

"I came back," says Dick, obviously more than a little manic, "I- I came back to bring you home–" His grip tightens around the device in his hand.

"Why? How did you know, why is it you? How did you get here?!" He hopes to God he got the inflection right.

"Because the team misses you, and I love you and I'm sorry and I couldn't let you die," says Dick, and holds up the machine. "Grab this, we don't have much time and we can talk later, you need to vibrate along to it–"

"No! No," Wally says, a bit panicked. "We can't go back yet, you'll die!"

Dick sounds confused. "No, Wally, it's okay, I'm fine and–"

"Listen, the Speedforce is helping you right now but the transition from ten to three dimensions is gonna kill you. Trust me, I know." I rewatched that tape too many times, Wally doesn't say. "We need to keep your connection until your memory is fixed. Okay?" He's all too aware of the hysteria in his voice.

"Okay. Okay. How do we do that?" Dick searches Wally's face.

 _Keep the vibration going for a small amount of time once you get back so Richard John Grayson is still between worlds and I can reach him,_ Sela suggests.

"Keeping the vibration going for a minute once we get back," says Wally, "I can do that."

"Okay. Okay, let's go home." Dick offers him the handle of the machine, but it's unnecessary. He remembers the frequency. The surface tension is broken. It's all ready to go. He grips the handle anyway and begins to vibrate home, feeling the mechanical exoskeleton on Dick do the same.

 _Thanks, Sela,_ he says in his mind, hoping she's listening. There's only the slightest hint of a mental smile in return.

The same electrical sink appears, the same rip, the same pull, and Dick glances around one last time at ten dimensions and they fall through and– and Wally's brain isn't working but it has to work and he has to _focus_ –

* * *

 

They tumble to the ground, Dick immediately feeling nauseous, like something is missing. The sixth dimension. Where is it, where– where is Wally? Oh God, he's going to throw up, he can't move, what happened to Wally, _what happened to_ –

"Hey! Hey, calm down." Wally's hand is on his temple, vibrating, lightning dancing across his skin and stinging it softly. Again, he feels something soft and self-aware recede from the back of his mind, leaving his brain half-asleep and prickly, the memory of Wally's retrieval fuzzy at best.

"Okay," he hears himself saying. "Okay, Wally, stop. I'm fine."

Wally pulls him into a tight embrace, keeps him there for a few seconds, then lets him lie back down on the cold floor. "I'm going to call the JLA."

"Batman's gonna be so pissed," Dick whispers, guilt pressing on him like a weight. "Tim… Tim is probably freaking out right now."

"Don't worry about it."

"Sorry about… Artemis… I didn't… I…" Dick's thoughts are getting muddled. "Didn't… wanna fight, jus' too much goin' on… didn' know. Sorry…"

"No, I'm sorry. Thank you for saving me."

"Know… y'd do th'same for me…"

Wally nods, a strange look in his eyes. "Yeah, I know. Go to sleep, Dick."

So he does go to sleep, fading off to the sound of whirring heaters and heavy breathing, remembering a past where everyone was afraid of the impossible and dreaming of a future where everyone lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sela (pronounced Seela. Weird, right?) isn't an OC btw, she's repurposed canon. Look her up. Welp that's about it unless I decide to write another sequel or smth. I could write an alternate ending I guess, or continue this style with stories about other characters, but... eh. I'm planning to write more stuff in this universe, though I might not post them, so suggestions are welcome, go ahead and comment them. Actually just comment in general. I'll love you forever. Thanks for reading, peace


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